Early on, there was the play-action fake and the 54-yard touchdown pass to Emory Blake, the first touchdown pass of his career to put Auburn ahead 7-3 early.

A little later in the first quarter, Frazier took advantage of a blown coverage to get the ball to Philip Lutzenkirchen up the seam for a 38-yard gain that set up an Auburn field goal. At times, Frazier flashed his mobility and picked up first downs, and teammates praised his poise in the huddle after the game.

"I'm very proud of Kiehl," head coach Gene Chizik said. "When you start your first game, you put a lot of pressure on yourself. He was escaping out there and got some critical first downs."

On the other hand, Frazier, who finished 11-of-27 for 194 yards, struggled to finish off scoring drives that could have put the game out of reach, even for a Clemson offense that racked up 528 yards of total offense.

Down the stretch, Frazier was only 2-of-8 in the fourth quarter.

"There were some missed throws, there were some bad decisions," Frazier said. "We've just got to go and work it out before conference play next week."

Frazier nearly had a second touchdown pass on a throw to a wide-open Trovon Reed in the back of the end zone. Able to stay alive in the pocket, Frazier put plenty of air under the throw, and Reed caught the ball after taking a step back out-of-bounds.

Reed appeared to lose track of the end line on the play, but Frazier still said he could have put more on the throw to keep him out of the back.

"I threw it soon enough," Frazier said. "I just put too much air under it."

Asked to grade himself after the game, Frazier gave himself a C, saying he didn't meet his own goals for the first start of his career.

"I didn't do as well as I expected myself to," Frazier said. "There were a lot of mistakes, a lot of plays I left out on the field."